Welcome back again!  It’s a new week, and coincidentally we’re getting into a new phase in Jacob’s life in Genesis 28.  We’re starting the part of the Bible where Jacob learns to be faithful, and eventually he will have his name changed to reflect his relationship with God.  At this point though, Jacob is still a bargainer, and God doesn’t really play that game.  So now we’re seeing Jacob bargain with God, but later we’ll see Jacob dealing with God as his Lord on the basis of faith. We have to know where Jacob starts from, though, or else it’s harder to appreciate where he ends up in the end.

What about you?  Are you a bargainer?  Do you set conditions for God which He must meet in order for you to worship Him?  I don’t mean to be contrary, but I think you might find that God has other plans.  The thing is though, that even though God doesn’t agree to meet our demands, what He does do is promise that He will always love us and always be faithful to us.  God will always do what’s best for us, and that means sometimes we won’t agree with Him.  That seems like a scary arrangement sometimes, but I think that’s only because we’re working under faith and we don’t see God as He is.  If we did, we would realize that there could be no safer place in the world than to be inside the will of God.